Toulouse – Marseille Preview

After 4 rounds Toulouse truly deserve the last place in Ligue1. Coach Casanova said it himself: the team is not ready yet.

The system is changed, they now use a defense in three, as opposed to last season when they were playing with four. The offense is new, with Braithwaite and Trejo that are yet to form playing relationships with teammates. There are no news regarding striker’s Ben Basat recovery, so most probably Toulouse will once again use Trejo and Braithwaite.

Winger Tabanou, Toulouse’s brain last season, transferred to St Etienne and left Toulouse in a state of confusion.The midfield also has 2 new players and both of them are used as starters since they arrived: Aguilar and Chantome.

There’s no chemistry visible when Toulouse plays, players appear to be disorientated and can’t find each other on the field. Long balls play a major role in their tactics but against solid defenses, like Marseille has for example, they won’t pose much threat.

For Toulouse Yago is suspended and Akpa Akpro is still injured.

Marseille got their hands on 2 promising French talents, central midfielder Lemina from Lorient and winger Thauvin from Lille, both 20 years old. Of course that at the moment nothing will change with the arrival of those two, but we can get a glimpse into Marseille’s serious intentions for this season and for the future.

After the arrival of Payet from Lille, Marseille’s major strength became the midfield, with high levels of creativity and even conversion.

The collaboration with Valbuena is just perfect (they already knew each other from the French National team) and their deliveries for Gignac always take opponents by surprise.

Toulouse’s defense in 3 will have big problems in keeping Marseille off their penalty box…

For guests fullback Morel is injured and Andre Ayew is suspended.

Maybe later in the season Toulouse will start to develop playing relations and find a good rhythm, but in their current state and against a team like Marseille they do not have much chances. Marseille DNB at odds of 1.97 is a great bet